The latest brouhaha in the US this week is airport security checks.
The TSA has never had a very good reputation. Everyone can tell stories about what happened to them in the security line - pre-9/11 and post. Not everyone knows why we take off our shoes and coats and sweaters that count as coats, but we do it. Introduce something new and some people will complain, bitch, and cause problems. They will mess it up, bring the wrong sized Ziploc bag, get their brand new 12 oz. lotion confiscated, forget their pocket knife is in their pocket and have to use one of those mailer envelope things to mail it home and hope it is there when they get back. Introduce something new and there are also real facts to point to about why it isn't working. An agent makes a mistake, someone's urostomy bag accidently gets torn, too much force is used. Absolutely all of this is true. Shit happens. It happens all the time, everywhere, this is no exception. (See the time the MBTA agent at Back Bay who confiscated the university credit card I had an authorization letter to use and told me I was a criminal and made me cry. That was fun.)
But I just don't get it. I don't get how people can see these new machines and optional pat-downs as assault or invasive. You get in a machine, which my home airport, Logan (Boston) has had for a while now, and hold your hands up "stick-up style" for about 10 seconds and then you walk out. This is what the image looks like that someone in another room somewhere sees:
Apparently there is some concern that these images are invasive and show too much of a person's body. And, that they aren't being erased from the system and could end up on the internet. Okay. But who can tell who anyone is? If someone wanted to take my image from the xray machine and print it somewhere, go ahead. Nobody can tell who I am from it. And before you go off yelling about it, even if I had one boob and two belly buttons, the chances are still slim someone could attach my name to it.
The level of radiation in the machines is supposedly safe. People are concerned that it isn't. Okay. Well, lots of things they told us was safe wound up not being and lots of things we thought were unsafe wound up being just fine. This has gone on for as long as we can remember. Lead paint anyone? Asbestos? Not sitting on the toilet seat to avoid AIDS? Saccharin is still up in the air and has been since the 70s, yet millions of people reach for the Sweet n Low every day. The list would be as long as you cared to make it.
So choose not to go through the machine. That's fine. You can do that. But if you do, you get the pat-down. That's the way it goes, peepers. And if you now complain that's too invasive, go back for your dose of radiation. Those are your choices. And if you don't like those choices, you can choose to not fly. If you're lucky, your airline will be handing out refunds.
A pregnant friend of mine who travels A LOT for work has been bypassing the machines and getting the pat down for a while now. She described the experience to me. She said the lead-in verbal info was so long about what they were going to do, she finally interrupted the poor woman TSA agent and said "I'm not modest, just go ahead." Then the woman told her every step she was going to do before she did it. She said, I'm going to run my hands up your arms. I have to run my finger under the underside of your breasts. I am going to put one finger into the waistband of your pants and go around. I'm going to run my hands up your leg until I "meet resistance" - apparently the nice way to say "hit your crotch." I asked my friend if they cupped her crotch. Nope. None of this description sounds invasive to me.
The little boy in the video who was supposedly being harassed at the airport needed the pat-down. Some dude recorded the entire thing with the father asking the boy to cooperate and then taking the boy's shirt off for the TSA agents, which was entirely his doing, and entirely unnecessary. The boy got the normal pat-down and went on his way. The dude who videoed it was asked to delete it since it violated the family's privacy but he refused and instead made it viral on the web. Who in this story violated someone's rights? My vote is for the a-hole with the video camera.
New security measures have continuously been put in place for flying since airlines have existed. In the 70s, with the hijackings that were happening, they began to step it up. As more and more people accessed air travel in the 80s, more security measures were necessary. And of course, we all know the post 9/11 measures and those that have followed. And every time someone figures out how to breach the measures in place, we come up with new ones. This is just another natural step in the progression. And it's one I think we can live with. In 5 years, we won't even remember when we didn't have to go through the xray machine. I can barely remember when I didn't have to take my shoes off.
I am not fully addressing the fact that some people are subjected to repeated "second checks" at airport security because of how they look. This type of profiling happens all the time. It happens to a number of people I know, both people of color and scruffy or hippie-looking people. And this is super annoying for them. And I'm sorry it happens.
I am fully aware that there many people who don't agree with me on this. I'm not asking you to. This is my opinion. Women have been subjected to cat-calling on the street for basically all eternity and it continues today and nobody's up in arms calling that assault and abuse and trying to stop it. So.
On the whole, I think there are better things to worry about than this. People are hungry. People are going in this holiday season with absolutely no means to provide even a modest gift for their kids. I would love for people who can afford to fly to be with family or enjoy a vacation this holiday season to consider the privilege that goes with that and then be respectful and helpful so we can all get where we are going safely. I wish we'd swallow some of what I see as our over-sensitive modesty and just move along. Perhaps eventually, we'll all be as non-chalant as these people:
